Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first as India, sans star
middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh, go into a do-or-die match against South
Africa in the Twenty20 cricket World Cup here today.
After his heroics in yesterday's win against England which kept alive India's
semifinal hopes, India badly needed Yuvraj in the crunch tie but an injury of
his left elbow reduced the dashing left-hander to a bench-warmer, thus substantially
weakening the Indian batting order.
Dinesh Kaarthick was drafted in as Yuvraj's replacement,
while South Africa also had once change with Makhaya Ntini replacing
Andre Nel.
Teams: India: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Robni Uthappa,
MS Dhoni (C), Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Kaarthick, Harbhajan Singh, Joginder Sharma,
Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, RP Singh South Africa: Graeme Smith, Herschele Gibbs,
AB de Villiers, Justin Kemp, Mark Boucher, Shjaun Pollock, Vernon Philander,
Albie Morkel, Johan van der Wath, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini.
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